ABCs of DCGMS Library: D is for Database Tic-Tac-Toe

Today's post is brought to you by the letter D as we take a look back at our databases tic-tac-toe work.

Earlier in the school year, Literacy Studies students had the chance to work in the newly genrified biography section to choose a person of interest. Once they'd selected a person, students worked to complete a tic-tac-toe based on our AEA databases.

Throughout the year, students worked at different times in a variety of databases both in Literacy Studies class along with their language arts and social studies classes. Our tic-tac-toe activity was designed to encourage students to explore and become familiar with databases they maybe weren't as apt to use when first given a task. 

You can read about the full database tic-tac-toe work in an earlier blog post, and stay tuned--our next ABCs of DCGMS Library post will include the follow-up to the students' work!

ABCs of DCGMS Library: C is for Censorship & Banned Books Week

Today's ABCs of DCGMS Library is brought to you by the letter C as we look at censorship and Banned Books Week. Over the years, there have been a variety of ways we've taken a look at censorship; you can read the posts HERE.

Pixabay credit

Conversations with students about challenged and banned books are always engaging as many are unaware of how common challenges are across the country. Often students are surprised to learn that books they've read or are familiar with have been challenged.

One activity to recognize Banned Books Week 2018 was to meet with several advisories to share information about the history of Banned Books Week and look at recently challenged titles.

And library displays encouraged students to take a look at censorship as it relates to the library.

ABCs of DCGMS Library: B is for Book Trailers

The ABCs of DCGMS Library brings to you the letter B today and features book trailers as a way to promote reading and pique students' interest in books and authors.

One of the regular components of the Literacy Studies class was showing book trailers to encourage students to try a new genre, new author, new series, or new book. Sometimes trailers featured newly published books recently added to the library; other times, the trailers highlighted titles that may have been in the collection for a while. While many trailers teased students with plot points and cliffhangers, some were author interviews.

Below are a few of students' favorite trailers--as determined by the holds and requests for the books!

The ABCs of DCGMS Library: Brought to You by the Letter A

Now that we're firmly into our summertime break, it's time to roll out the summer theme for the blog: the ABCs of DCGMS Library.

Photo by Diomari Madulara on Unsplash

Every few days-and of course in alphabetical order!--we'll feature something related to the DCG Middle School library and the work and the activities there. So without further ado, let's start with the letter A and the All Things Reading Symbaloo.

Access the Symbaloo HERE

Also accessible from our library main page, the All Things Reading Symbaloo is a place for students to visit when they're interested in finding read-alikes for their next reads, browse collections of online books and audio books, and visit official websites for several authors.

Maybe you're looking for something to read and aren't sure where to start? Try the upper left-hand corner of the Symbaloo or click on a popular author--you may just find what you're looking for! 

Happy reading!

Poetry Breakout Time

One of the activities in which literacy studies students participated during National Poetry Month was a poetry-themed breakout. Our breakout was a combination of materials from Second Nature Teaching from Teachers Pay Teachers, and items created specifically for DCG students.

Like our library orientation breakout (click the link to read about students' first literacy studies breakout), groups began with an introduction letter. This time, though, the letter was actually a group of limericks, in staying with the poetry theme! The first two limericks appear below:

Students had to locate poetry books on shelves, solve particular items in a poetry-themed crossword puzzle, use their grammar skills to earn codes, and evaluate the limericks for answers all to determine combinations to locks. A digital component accompanied the breakout as students had to scan QR codes and enter information in Google Forms.

Like other breakouts students have completed throughout the year, they often had to struggle, fail, and rethink their work to determine combinations. Collaboration, critical thinking, communication, and creativity all played a part in students' efforts!

Trying Out Destiny Collections

Students in Literacy Studies recently had the opportunity to try out Destiny Collections, a relatively new feature in our library management system. You can read about Collections from their website:

Each grade level was working on projects that lended themselves easily to Collections work: sixth graders are preparing their Biographies in Action projects while seventh graders are collaborating with one another on their World Peace Day projects.

Students created Collections and added resources, edited their Collections, and shared them with their partners and teachers.

MySimpleShow Book Trailers

We're always looking for ways to promote reading and books, and a popular choice among students and teachers is book trailers. Late in the third quarter, both sixth and seventh graders created book trailers using a "new to us" platform--MySimpleShow.

We found several things very helpful about introducing students to MySimpleShow: 1) students could log in using their Google accounts; 2) students were directed on the site to write their "scripts" before concerning themselves with images; 3) a number of templates were available, including a template designed to talk about books; and 4) students could easily access a shareable link so their reading teachers could also view their trailers.

We began our work with viewing sample book trailers and thinking about how we might write about one of our favorite books. The template we used included slides featuring information about the characters, setting, and plot of a book, and students also had the option to include additional information should they like to do so.

Once students were finished, we made use of a digital gallery walk to share their work. (You can read about a  digital gallery walk from Matt Miller and Ditch That Textbook on this blog post.) Students' trailers were open and ready to play, and classmates viewed different examples, using sentence starters as response prompts, such as "I wanted to hear more about..." and "This book reminds me of..." and "I was interested in the plot when..." During class, students were able to look at 2-3 trailers and respond to the trailer creators.

Here are a couple examples of students' work:

Since You've Been Gone trailer

Cinder trailer